Boca Resort Plans Amuse And Anger

ON THE BEAT - Scott Gold

Desperately seeking problems in Boca Raton . . . The City Council approved, by a 4-1 vote, the Boca Raton Resort & Club's plans to build 15 houses and 57 condos at the 356-acre resort.

But the decision wasn't made before angry neighbors of the swanky club protested in City Hall, saying their property values will sink and traffic will destroy the integrity of the area.

The debate divided neighbors, some of whom support the Resort & Club's expansion plans. But, to observers who can't afford to live at the intersection of Camino Real and the Intracoastal Waterway, some of the debate was amusing.

To wit:

* Golfers with a nasty shank in their swing can poke their driving-range tee shots outside the Resort & Club, onto Camino Real. City officials say they haven't heard of anyone getting hurt yet, but there might be a Mercedes or two with dents on top.

* Expansion plans include a $6 million makeover of the golf course, and the resort plans to reconfigure the driving range so you'd have to be a really terrible golfer to knock one out.

One club official said the revamped driving range should ``slow down the dispersion pattern of errant shots.''

* The golf course makeover will include a 30-foot-high hill. Get out your skis, because it will likely be the highest point of elevation in Boca Raton. Resort & Club President Michael Glennie told the City Council that the hill, in Florida, ``almost qualifies as a mountain.''

* The debate got a little personal for City Council members when neighbors demanded to know which council members are members of the Resort & Club - only Bill Glass is - and which ones have received campaign contributions from the club.

City Attorney Frank Bartolone pointed out that campaign contributions are available in City Hall as a matter of public record, but said discussion of those contributions was not relevant to the land-use debate.

``Your response is at the ballot box, not at this hearing,'' Bartolone said.

* Oops . . . Boca Raton landed on the nation's map when it attempted to cap its population, a move later dismissed by courts.

But resident Paul Schnabel, after casting his ballot this month at the Community Center next to City Hall, said the population cap effort was actually ``the best thing that ever happened for development.''

``Everybody wanted to come in here,'' he said. ``Prices and everything else went up.''* Changing of the guards . . . During a recent Boynton Beach workshop meeting, the five-member City Commission unanimously voted to appoint Commissioner Jamie Titcomb to be the city's vice mayor.

That gives Titcomb second-in-command status for the city, which means Titcomb will step in for the mayor during city functions he cannot attend.

``I want to say that I am flattered and honored to be the city's vice mayor,'' Titcomb said after being sworn in.